


Love Will Tear Us Apart

by harleygirl2648



Series: The Possession of Gary Green [3]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angst, Babysitting, Demonic Possession, Demons Are Assholes, Discord: Flarrowverse Shipyard, Gen, I Tried, Ice Cream, Murder, Neron is a piece of shit guys, Psychological Torture, References to ABBA, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 07:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18464596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harleygirl2648/pseuds/harleygirl2648
Summary: Do you cry out in your sleep?All my failings exposedGets a taste in my mouthAs desperation takes holdAnd it's something so goodJust can't function no more?Love, love will tear us apart againLove, love will tear us apart againLove, love will tear us apart againAfter Neron escapes the Time Bureau, there's only one place to go: sunny Los Angeles to meet up with some old friends.





	Love Will Tear Us Apart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AgentMaryMargaretSkitz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz/gifts).



> The lovely AgentMaryMargarateSkitz was gracious enough to let me take a swing at her Possession of Gary Green verse, and bring in the Lucifer crossover. Well, I couldn't say no to that, and I had a hell of a lot of fun writing this, pun intended.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy, and read the other works in this verse, too! Send Kate some love and comments!

“Sir, the store is closing now.” **  
**

No answer from the back dressing rooms. The store clerk at Azure Designs rolled his eyes outright before saying louder. “Sir, the store is _closed now,_ I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“I’m almost done.”

“Sir, _please_ leave the store, with or without purchasing anything.”

Clothes were tossed out of the top of the stall onto a pile that had been steadily growing for the past hour.

“SIR.”

Another dress shirt was tossed out, along with the sounds of muttering. The employee rolled his eyes, getting out from behind the counter and heading over to the changing area, picking up the clothes and moving them out of the way so he could knock right on the stall door.

“For the last time,” he snapped, pounding on the stall door and kicking the clothes away, “Drop your shit and g-”

His foot snagged on the scattered pieces of a bloodstained suit, and the rest of his words died in his throat. “Uh…”

The stale fluorescent lights flickered on and off and the stall door rattles until it fell off the hinges, and a hand reached out and grabbed his shirt, yanking him into the stall.

His scream was only noticed by a rat that darted away from the store at the agonized sound.

Fifteen minutes later, the automatic doors slid open and Neron emerged, licking his hand and wiping off stray splatters of blood from his cheek. Then he straightened the clean press of his khaki suit jacket, and he clicked the car keys in his hand over and over until he spotted a rundown convertible that started flashing its lights. He rolled his eyes at the state of it but got in the car anyways and drove off into the last dying rays of the sunlight.

 

 

“Do you have it yet?”

“Give it a few more minutes.”

“Just _said that,_ pet, I thought your fancy tech was traceable.”

“It is, it takes time, be patient, it’s a virtue.”

“Sorry, fresh out of those,” John snapped, lighting a cigarette in his mouth before Ava snatched it from him and stubbed it out on her desk. “What the f-”

“OKAY,” Sara interjected, standing between the two of them. “Okay, both of you, breathe. We are going to find where he went, and we’re going to _fix this_. Now, breathe.”

Ava and John shared a glare but let out a breath just as the monitor finally beeped.

“We got a match!” Charlie announced, leaning against the side of Zari’s chair as she hit a button on the keyboard and brought up a map with a dot flashing on it. “And it looks he’s in Los Angeles, California, in this year.”

John rubbed at his temple, “Bollocks.”

“Why? Why is that bollocks? Why is he there?”

“More than likely, it’s to brag, or get support, either way, we’re leaving now,” John declared, spinning around and was met with Des and Nora standing in the doorway, their arms folded. Des's eyes were understanding, but firm. John sighed. “Des, I have to go, I can’t-”

“I’m not stopping you,” Des said. “I’m letting you know I’m joining the rest of you. And so is she."

John stared at him in surprise. “No, you’re not, Des, you can't.”

“No, I am.”

“Des, I-”

“I know, you don’t want me near him again, but he had _control over me,_ John, ruined my life for a long time. Now, I have to help you stop it and help someone else escape that. I know what kind of pain that is, I can help."

"I also have experience in possession," Nora added, "So I'm not going to stay here when I could putting my magic to good use."

John looked like he was about to argue, to beg Des to stay and be safe here, to tell Nora it could be a slippery slope, but it appeared he couldn’t muster up the words to say no to him. “I - alright. C’mon, you lot, can’t stay here, he’s probably there by now.”

Ray piped up as they opened a portal to the Waverider, “Where exactly is - _there_ , again?”

 

 

_When I feel alone, I reach for you_

_And you bring me home_

_When I'm lost at sea I hear your voice_

_And it carries me_

_In this world we're just beginning_

_To understand the miracle of living_

_Baby, I was afraid before_

_But I'm not afraid anymore_

Neron hummed along to the radio under his breath, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he waited for this stoplight to change. He’d already sat through one cycle. He was _not_ sitting through another one. But, then again, he was bored. And he was _not_ a creature that liked to be bored.

So when the light finally changed, he crept along slowly, enough that he kept causing the nice Suburban behind him to brake-check him. He licked his bottom lip as he grinned when the horn was blasted at him.

The light was yellow when he finally got up to it, and suddenly floored it through the intersection. He cranked the radio as loud as he could get it to go as the Suburban sped through the newly-changed red light, and collided with a yellow Volkswagen bug. He erupted into loud, cackling laughter, adding to the noise of screeching tires, twisting metal, and human screaming. And like a basenote to the entire horrific symphony, Belinda Carlisle cheerily sang,

_Ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth?_

_Ooh, heaven is a place on earth._

 

 

 

Maze was cleaning glasses and setting them up on the counter so they would dry when a guy in a suit came in. Not necessarily a rare occurrence, sad men in suits drinking at two in the afternoon, just a surprising choice that one would choose to drink in a flashy club with absolutely no one there and not a dive bar where one could be anonymous. She put her glass and rag down and turned as the man chose the barseat right across from her. “What’ll you have?”

“Whatever you want to give me, sweetheart.”

She looked back at him, ready to punch the words right out of his mouth, when she caught the glimpse of red eyes and a demonic face before it returned to normal. So she shoved him off the stool instead of punching him, just for old times sake. “Fuck off, Neron.”

He crawled back up from the floor and sat in the seat again, flashing her a winning smile, causing her to say, “Holy shit, turn that down.”

“I know,” he said through the smile before turning it down into a slight frown. “I’ve been fucking blinding myself in the car mirror. New soul, what do you think?” He did a spin in the seat for emphasis.

Maze smiled at him, pouring a beer from the nearest tap and passing it to him, before leaning on the counter across from him, purring, “I think you look like - a geek.”

“I know,” he rolled his eyes, downing half of the beer before wiping his mouth. “Had to ditch the glasses.”

“Should’ve kept those.”

“Yeah? You like glasses now?”

“No, it would have been fun to smash them into your eyes.”

“I would have loved that,” he smirked, finishing the beer and leaning in close to her. “Where is he?”

“On his way down.”

“Good. Don’t mention it’s me.”

Maze shrugged, as if to say ‘your funeral’ and poured him another beer as Lucifer came down the stairs, on his phone.

“Yes, yes, you can leave the offspring here with Maze - yes, I’m aware of her name, detective - and then I’ll ride with you there, yes? Perfect, see you in seven.” He hung up and noticed the strange man sitting at the bar, Maze paying him no mind. The man was absently tracing random patterns onto the bar surface, a partly full glass beside him. Lucifer smiled, and slid into the seat right beside him.

The man looked up at him, surprised, and Lucifer just grinned. “Hate to see a pretty face so sad, love. What’s the problem?”

The smile that spread across his face was _breathtaking._ “Oh - sorry, I didn’t mean to bring the mood down. I just...broke up with my - I broke with a guy and I don’t - deal with things well.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Lucifer nodded, gesturing to Maze who handed him an already-made glass of whiskey. “So, what ended it? Cheating, lying, burning all of his clothes on the lawn, some sort of Lorena-Bobbitt-type event-?”

“Oh, the man said, pushing a loose wavy curl back behind his ear and picked his glass back up. “I just got dumped, that’s all. It’s not my fault he’s a bastard.”

“I suppose not,” Lucifer grinned over his glass, and the man flashed the smile back.

“Well, I guess it’s my fault for giving everything up for him.”

“ _Everything_ , interesting.”

“Virgin syndrome, give one thing up, the rest follows, you know,” the man flirted more openly now, leaning into Lucifer’s space. “It’s nice to talk with someone that cares what you have to say.”

“It’s not everyday you meet someone like yourself,” Lucifer purred, leaning even further towards the man, a hairbreadth away from his face before retrieving a cigarette from his pocket and placing it between the man’s lips.

Almost instantly, without the use of a lighter or a match, the end started to glow.

“Hello, Neron,” Lucifer smirked, leaning back and clinking his glass against Maze’s.

Neron rolled his eyes, taking the cigarette between two fingers and then breathed out the smoke as he said, “Fuck you.”

“That’s not very nice to say to your boss, now is it? Nice new soul smell, this one’s pretty.”

“Why thank you. I got it for free.”

“Cute.”

“Oh, it’s not a joke. Handed it over without a deal, nice clean transaction.”

Lucifer finished his drink, then passed his glass over to Maze. “So, what are you doing here?”

“Well, since _you’ve_ skipped out on Hell,” Neron drawled, moving his now-empty glass in Maze’s direction also, “ _I’ve_ had to wander, and I’d like to lay low for a while. Might have made someone a little upset.”

Bothe Maze and Lucifer stared at him, waiting for an answer, and he opened his mouth to continue when he winced. He took the cigarette from his lips and stubbed it out on the back of his hand. “Sorry,” he shrugged, gesturing to his head, “sometimes he just won’t shut up.”

Before he could be pressed for more information, there was a loud shout of “LUCIFER!” and then Trixie was attached to Lucifer's leg. He awkwardly patted the top of her head. “Ah, child. Hello, offspring.”

“Hi! Can I have a dollar, I want to swear.”

“Oh, I would never say no to corrupting the good youth of the world,” he smiled, handing her a dollar. Trixie eagerly took it, then darted off to Chloe, who had just finished typing out a message on her phone. Chloe grinned, taking the dollar from her daughter.

“You can play on the stage now.” Trixie grinned back at her mother after receiving a high five, darting off. Lucifer’s mouth was open in a state of shock.

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, Trixie wanted to know what extortion was, she read about it one of my reports, and she learns better with demonstrations,” she smiled, standing by his side.

Lucifer’s eyes glinted. “Detective, I’m hurt. You wouldn’t let me take her under my wings? We could’ve swindled half the Boulevard out of their wallets with her face.”

“You’re enough of a bad influence,” she told him, nudging his shoulder before noticing the man studying them intently. “Who are you, I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met.”

The man extended his hand forward, cigarette burn still visible above his wrist, and his bright smile lighting up his entire face. “Hi, Neron.”

“....Detective Decker,” Chloe said slowly as she shook his hand, shooting a look to Maze. Maze rolled her eyes.

“He’s an old coworker.”

“I see.”

“From Hell.”

“I got that part, too. Well, it was nice to - meet you, I guess. Lucifer, we need to get going.”

“Yes, of course,” Lucifer said, standing up from his chair and turning to Neron and Maze. “Do not kill each other, I will be back in two hours. Offspring! Keep them busy.”

“YOU GOT IT!”

And then Lucifer and Chloe were leaving, Lucifer’s hand on Chloe’s shoulder as he opened the door for her, and Neron tilted his head to the side as he observed her leaning into the touch. He turned back to Maze, drumming his fingers on the counter until Maze swatted them away. She poured herself a glass of whiskey, and sipped at it as she watched Trixie play on the stage.

“So,” Neron said, to broach the subject, “what’s the detective got on the boss? Seemed pretty tight.”

“Sorry, that’s only for those in the loop,” Maze smirked at him.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh yes, you’re so in the loop, watching some human child for no reason.”

“Maybe it’s because I want to.”

“Maybe it's because you’re getting soft.”

It was fast when Maze grabbed his suit collar and yanked him up out of his chair, pressing a knife right to his jugular vein. Her nails sunk into the skin at the base of his neck as she hissed, “Don’t _ever_ question me, Neron.”

“But it’s so much fun,” he grinned back, leaning into the blade so it grazed his neck. “I love pain, you know that. C’mon, make it hurt. I _love_ when he gets hurt, he starts begging again. Go on, Mazey, torture me allllll you want.”

Maze’s eyes were hard, before they suddenly brightened, and a cruel smile spread across her face. She pulled the knife away, turned her head to the side and called, “Hey, Deckerspawn!”

“Yeah?” Trixie yelled back, balancing herself on a very high railing.

“Neron wants to get ice cream, don’t you want to go?”

Neron’s grin melted into a frown in record time.

“YES!” Trixie cheered, jumping down and rushing over to them, hugging Maze and then Neron who visibly cringed. “Thank you, thank you! Do you like chocolate or vanilla? Strawberry is for weirdos. Maze likes chocolate, I like sprinkles. Are you going to get-”

“Get off! Mazey, Maze, MAZIKEEN, GET IT OFF OF ME!” he shrieked, and both Maze and Trixie laughed, doing a high five when Trixie let go.

 

 

“Well, isn’t this a fine mess.”

“Thank you for your input, Lucifer,” Chloe said as she put on a pair of gloves. “However, I’m looking for more specific statements.”

“Absolutely no foreplay today, Detective, I see how it is,” Lucifer teased, stepping aside to let her wander the crime scene in this clothing store. He peered into the changing stall where the door had been broken off. And inside of the stall - “Looks like someone threw a few frogs in a blender, turned it on high and then-”

“LUCIFER,” Chloe shushed as the officer with camera started to turn a little green. She lead them both over to the computer where the security footage was held. “Not right now, lunch was only two hours ago.”

“Speaking of, fancy a-” He cleared his throat, “Chloe, you should - be at Lux tonight. I’ll get that Thai food you like.”

She typed on the computer and worked on pulling up the footage, not looking up when she said, “I might, if you don’t get my order wrong.”

“I don’t!” Lucifer gasped, offended.

“You got my pad thai without scallions the last time.”

“Only because you never eat the scallions!”

“But I like the flavor of them,” Chloe stated, turning to give him a smile. “I’ll join you. It’ll have to be late, though, I have to take care of Trixie and put this paperwork in before morning.”

“All work and no play, my dear detective,” Lucifer smiled back, leaning his forearms down on the table to be at her level as she pulled up the security footage.

“See, this is what’s weird,” she explained, pointing at the timestamp. “The camera cut out an hour before closing, and only turned back on two hours after closing, after the murder was committed.”

“Perhaps it’s a ghost.”

“Don’t be cute,” she told him, moving the camera back to the last ten seconds before it shut off. “There, that’s the last figure that enters the store.”

Lucifer’s eyes widened slightly at the outline of the lower body of a man, the bottomside of a trench coat in view of the camera. Something felt familiar.

 _Too_ familiar.

“It’s the best lead we have,” Chloe sighed, straightening up and stretching out her neck. “Not much, but we have the vague outline of a guy. Hey, can I meet up with you later, I have to finish out this paperwork and-”

“Yes, of course,” he nodded. “I’ll - I’ll see you tonight.”

He knew something had smelled fishy since early this afternoon.

 

 

Maze and Neron were out in some dinky little mall, at a table in the food court. Trixie had been given a handful of cash to amuse herself with in the arcade, having already finished her ice cream.

“See, it’s melting too fast, eat it,” Maze told Neron, as she licked her own cone, chocolate-salted-caramel swirl. Neron just stared at her over the top of his plain vanilla cone, rolling his eyes before going back to eating his. Complete silence and conversing through glares, it was like Hell all over again.

Neron looked around the food court, boredom setting in, and his eyes fell on the couple sitting a few tables down. The woman noticed him looking, and he sent her a smile, one so convincingly warm that she smiled back, before ducking her head to turn back to the man, giving all the appearance that she had smiled at him for no reason. When later the man also turned the other way, Neron met his gaze and licked the top of his cone, sending him a wink and getting a blush and a quick look away. When the woman’s brow furrowed at him, she turned and saw only another apparent couple enjoying a treat. An argument began.

“So, bounty hunting,” Neron said to Maze. She nodded.

“Fun times. I’m going out tonight.”

“I’ll join-”

“Absolutely not,” Maze told him as the couple beside them started arguing louder than before. “Kinda gonna handle this one on my own. And I doubt Lucifer's going to turn you loose tonight.”

“Oh no, Daddy’s going to keep me under curfew? Please,” Neron scoffed. “Since when were you one of his favorites?”

Maze smiled, biting a chunk of her waffle cone, as the argument near them had turned to a shade below yelling. “Since I was forged to torture the guilty souls in Hell, and you were forged after one of his fits so you’d destroy all the purity that made him jealous.”

Neron worked his jaw, then opened his mouth to fire back but the nearby couple was now standing and screaming at each other. Other parents covered their children’s ears as swear words were emitted from both parties, until the woman took the ring off her finger and tossed it in the fountain in the middle of the food court and they both stormed off in different directions. Neron innocently popped the last bit of cone into his mouth. “Shame they’re not getting their wedding venue deposit back.”

He would have gloated a little bit if he didn’t catch the flash of a trench coat coming through the automatic doors. “Oh fuck me,” he muttered, ducking to the floor like he was grabbing a napkin they had dropped.. “Get the creature, I'll meet you outside.”

“Why?”

He was ready to lie his ass off to her but Maze noticed John Constantine through the fountain water, and her eyes flared black before she gripped Neron’s wrist and nearly broke it right then and there.

“Is that _fucking_ -”

“Can I tell you later? I don’t think you want the little beast to get in the way, right?”

She slapped him hard enough to leave a red mark, and got up to retrieve Trixie from the arcade on the other side of the fountain. Neron pulled Gary Green’s phone from his pocket and snapped a picture of John Constantine standing near Trixie Decker, focused on the claw machine. He moved on right as Maze came up and pulled Trixie away, and Neron put the phone back in his pokcet before sliding his hand into Maze’s as they left the mall. Maze only let him because it sold the ‘couple with adorable child’ vibe that demons did not give off.

“Maze, is Neron your boyfriend?” Trixie asked, ripping open the disposable camera box, a prize she had won. Maze looked ill, before she worked up a smile.

“Deckerspawn, sometimes you keep boys around just so that they can entertain you.”

Neron cut in front of Maze to get in the driver’s seat first, flashing her a grin. “Amen to that, sister.”

 

 

 

Maze pulled Lucifer off to the side at Lux when they arrived, and Neron hung back to approach Chloe alone. “Excuse me, detective.”

“Can I help you?” she asked, eyebrow raised.

“I heard that you were investigating that murder that happened last night, the one at Azure Designs?”

“Do you have information?”

“I - _saw_ who did it, actually.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Really, now? Why were you there at the time?”

“I’m in the soul business, detective, someone's always selling theirs around here for the shot at the big time. I was there collecting and I saw him come out. Blonde hair, trenchcoat, messy tie. You won’t miss him. His name is John Constantine.”

She wrote down what he said. “Thank you for telling me, I’ll ask Lucifer if he knows-”

“Please don’t,” Neron said in a rushed, hushed voice. “Oh, _please_ don’t. He’ll be angry at me, at you.”

“...why?”

“They have a.... _history_ , and Constantine is, to put it mildly, a loose cannon. The only reason I’m telling you this is because of this.” He pulled the phone from his pocket and pulled up the picture of Constantine in the same vicinity of Trixie. “People Constantine are around tend to end up in poor situations. The only reason he’d be here is for the boss, and if he knows you and the boss are...” he made a motion of his two index fingers coming together.. 

Her eyes widened in horror at the screen, missing Neron’s eyes flashing red, absorbing the distrust and negative energy she was emitting. She looked back up, and his eyes were normal again. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” he smiled, wide and encouraging, even waving after Trixie as the two of them left. As soon as the door closed and he turned around, he was met with a punch in the face by Maze that sent him flying backwards into the bar. Then she was grabbing him again, slamming his face against the counter.

“Your dumb fucking ass brought _JOHN CONSTANTINE_ this way?!” she screeched, and Neron grabbed the nearest item, a stainless steel drink tray, and managed to smash it over her head, then yanked her hair and got her in the jaw.

He panted as he kept her at arm’s length away from him, “Not like I EXPECTED him to drag himself all the way out here.”

“Why would he follow you out here? What did you do? _Whose form did you steal?!”_

“I didn’t fucking _steal_ it! Some pathetic, sorry notch in his bedpost got all noble and offered to swap his sparkly nice soul for Constantine’s shitstained one. It’s not my fault Constantine decided to act like an idiot! It’s how he always is! Don’t talk about me like I can’t get decent hosts.”

“Maybe if you were better at your job, if you served a purpose _he_ cares about anymore, you’d have your own human form,” Maze smirked at him, and watched Neron’s teeth grind together and his eyes flare red, and right before they came down to blows again, Lucifer stepped between them and held them apart.

“That’s quite enough,” he declared, shoving them both back.

“She hit me first!”

“He brought him here!”

 _ **“ENOUGH,”** _Lucifer snarled, making both of them finally quiet down. “Now, Maze, go on your little bounty hunt thing tonight.”

“With pleasure,” she muttered, leaving the room and shattering a wine bottle on the way.

Lucifer turned back to Neron, “You, up in the private box, all night. You do not move from that spot, understand me?”

“That doesn’t really work for me.”

_“Do you understand me?”_

Neron leaned close to Lucifer’s face, sneering, “I _understand,_ boss.”

Lucifer suddenly smiled, a bit eerie. “Maybe we should ask your host if he understands, yes?” He traced his finger down the side of Neron’s cheek, and watched as his eyes suddenly filled with desperate tears, his breath speeding up, and his lip started quivering before Neron jerked backwards, away from him.

“No, no, no, you’re not doing that.”

“Then I suggest you start listening to me, I’m not standing for your nonsense anymore.” As Lucifer left the room, he heard all of the new, freshly washed glasses in the bar shatter into millions and millions of little shards along with a shriek. “Behave like a child, get treated like one,” he stated, not even turning around to face him. “Next slip-up, Neron, you go in time out.”

 

 

“I’m worried about John,” Sara announced to Ava late that night, as she poured coffee for them both and Charlie and Zari sitting opposite them at the table. "He left in the middle of the day today for hours then locked himself in his room longer than usual.

Ava rolled her eyes, tapping her fingers on the table too quickly, a sign of nerves. “He’ll be fine.”

Zari ate a few cookies from the plate on the table, asking Gideon to call for the rest of the Legends to come up for a coffee and a snack.

“Unfortunately, the rest of them have left the Waverider, Captain.”

“...what?” Sara asked, standing up so quickly her chair fell over. “Where - where would they go?”

 

 

John was in the process of finishing explaining the plan in the car, stuck in the middle of the backseat in between Des and Mick while Ray drove and Nora was turned around to listen to them from the passenger seat. Well, he had intended for it to only be Nora, Mick, and himself, but Ray wasn’t about to leave Nora to go off alone with them, and Des refused to be left behind, so there they were, crammed into a car and creeping along to their destination.

“Are we all clear with the plan?”

Nora nodded once. “You and I get in when Mick breaks us into Lux. Mick robs the place, you and I go find the boss and talk to him, Ray drives, Des is the lookout.”

“Perfect, love,” John sighed, his head hitting the back of the seat, dying for a smoke. He could feel Des looking at him, however.

“John, are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

“I’m sure, darling, I - I need you to stay here and - lookout, yeah?”

Even with his eyes closed, he knew Des wasn’t happy with that, but he’d rather have Des unhappy around him than damned back to Hell.

 

 

 

The Thai food was getting cold, Chloe was very late, and Lucifer was growing restless, having already slapped away Neron’s hand from the styrofoam containers three times. “Enough.”

“What? It’ll just go to waste,” Neron shrugged, setting a champagne flute on the table in the VIP raised section of the club and picking up a bottle of champagne and starting to work on the cork. “Want some?”

“No,” Lucifer said dryly, watching as the sleeve to Neron’s shirt slipped down to reveal the watch-like object he’d been noticing. “What is that?”

“What’s what?”

“What’s on your wrist?”

**POP**

Champagne drenched Neron’s other arm, and he shook the excess liquid off it before filling up his glass, reclining all the way back on his couch. “I don’t know what you mean,” he said, flashing that smile that would have been gorgeous if it wasn’t coated in spite.

“I asked you a question.”

“Your little trick doesn't work on me, Lucifer.”

“It’ll work on _him,"_ he stated, gesturing to the body he was inhabiting.

Neuron glared at him, downing his flute before refilling it. “Fine. Got it from this schmuck’s old job. Time Bureau or some shit, they do time travel.”

Lucifer laughed out loud, nearly spitting out perfectly decent whiskey. “Oh, that is a riot. But seriously, what is it?”

“Oh, I am deadly serious. This little thing on my wrist?” Neron grinned, sitting up and leaning forward. “I can go _anywhere, anytime_ I want.”

Now Lucifer was taking another sip of his drink, mulling over the words and not allowing the words to get to him. Even though they were damning, damning words. Neron wasn’t Maze. Technically, Maze only tortured guilty souls, even if that was flexible terminology. Neron, on the other hand, existed to corrupt purity and sow discord and hatred. This - thing, if he wasn’t lying through his teeth (a very real possibility) would cause irreparable damage.

There was something else itching at his mind. “Nice touch to play dress-up in a trenchcoat when you’re out commit crimes against innocent store clerks.”

“He tried to get me to wear yellow, he had to go,” Neron sighed wistfully, a mockery of the whole affair as his lips were tilted up. “I mena, how better to pin it on, right? Since he’s in town, might as well kill a few with one stone.” He twirled the stem of his flute between his fingers, looking back at Lucifer pouring himself his own drink of whiskey. “Hey, have I ever mentioned to you what purity smells like?”

“Not that I recall,” Lucifer said, sounding distracted as he put the cap back on the whiskey decanter. Neron stared into the depths of his drink.

“It smells like a rainstorm in the spring, like wet earth and stone, like the flowers growing from the water while the ones beside them drown in their trenches, water soaking everything down to the bone.”

Lucifer was half listening, nodding alone when he caught a blonde ponytail passing down the hallway of the private sector of Lux, down to the security room. He got up to follow afterwards, when Neron’s words stopped him cold: “Sometimes I can still catch whiffs of it off you.”

He turned sharply back to Neron, who held his gaze as he sipped from his glass. “I beg your pardon?”

“I wish you would.”

“Neron.”

“It’s still there, under all the brimstone and charcoal, sometimes I can still smell fresh rain. But not like fresh rain on a spring day, with Heaven opening up into gray skies. No, it smells like rain when the sun’s still shining behind it, and Heaven’s still closed. When the rain is too warm and sticks to everything instead of cleansing whatever it touches.”

Lucifer's mouth narrowed, and Neron smiled as he turned away from him and walked down the hallway after the ponytail. Finally, Lucifer caught up with Chloe right outside the security room. She whirled around to face him.

“Detective, what -”

“Do you know a John Constantine?” she interrupted, all business and no fun.

Well, that was a question he didn’t want to answer, so he didn’t. “Why is that relevant?”

She shoved a folder filled with pictures and old records against his chest. “John Constantine, had a stay at a mental institution, assorted criminal background? Always falls off the map? Ringing any bells?”

Lucifer shrugged. “Possibly.”

She shook her head, frustrated, “Well, I have a witness that saw him entering Azure at the time of the camera malfunctioning.”

“Oh, really? And who is your all-knowing witness?”

“Are you kidding me? Don’t tell me how to conduct my investigation when you’re aware of who my suspect is.”

“Oh please, I’m not telling you how to run it, I just don’t think Constantine is involved. The only time he ever accomplishes anything, Detective, positive _or_ negative, is by complete accident.”

 

 

_Well, I can dance with ya honey, if you think it’s funny_

_But does your mother know that you’re out?_

_And I can chat with ya baby, flirt a little maybe,_

_But does your mother know that you’re out?_

“I hate disco pop,” Mick muttered, brushing past John and heading into the opposite hallway. John scoffed, his fingers scratches at his jacket pocket aching for a cigarette, but there wasn't the time. Nora exchanged a look with him, as though she wanted to reach out and squeeze his shoulder, but that’s not who she was, and not something he really wanted.

They followed the sound of thumping noise down by the bathrooms, and emerged out into the club crowds as though they had always been there. John slipped through the mass of loud, laughing patrons, trying to make his way to the front, with Nora right on his trail.

 

 

Neuron had been lounging at one of the couches in the VIP space when he looked down into the crowd and caught sight of a trench coat amidst the flashing neon lights. He nearly choked on his drink, then sat it down, getting up to walk along the back of the VIP area to the DJ, passing him a twenty before heading back to his spot leaning over the railing so he could observe the crowd. He smiled as the song started, tapping his fingers against the railing.

_And I'm possessive, it isn't nice_

_You've heard me saying that smoking was my only vice_

_But now it isn't true, now everything is new_

_And all I've learned has overturned, I beg of you_

_Don't go wasting your emotion_

_Lay all your love on me_

 

“There you are,” he smiled, spotting the coat in the crowd again, letting his eyes flare before-

_Stop._

He only stopped long enough to roll his eyes. “Do you ever shut up?”

**Please, stop.**

“I never stop. You should know that already, idiot.”

**Please don’t hurt him.**

“You should be _begging_ me to hurt him. You should be _delighted_ that I’m going to break him into pieces after how he hurt you.”

**Stop it.**

“Oh, really? I guess I shouldn’t try and be nice to you, should I? I don’t know why I’ve even bothered, you give up your cherry to the first one that says nice things to you and you gave up your soul to me without even wagering a deal.”

**Please - leave them all alone.**

“I can only extract so much of your misery, don't play this game with me.”

**If you would, you’d kill me, I know. But you - you can’t, can you? If - if you kill me, you don’t have a form anymore. Because - for all that you can do to hurt me, hurt everyone else, what can you do without a form?**

Neron grabbed his arm and dragged his nails across the forearm, deep, screaming red scratches left in his wake as he ground his teeth. “Shut your fucking mouth for once,” he hissed, and his eyes flashed to red as he located John in the crowd again. “Oh, don’t worry your pretty little soul, darling, I’m going to tear him inside out without laying a single finger on him.”

 

 

_I feel a kind of fear, when I don't have you near_

_Unsatisfied I skip my pride, I beg you dear_

_Don't go wasting your emotion_

_Lay all your love on me_

_Don't go sharing your devotion_

_Lay all your love on me_

John blinked at the spinning neon lights surrounding him, it was too much stimulation but he pushed it aside in order to try and get to the front of the club. He was making steady progress when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Annoyed, he turned as made to shove it off him but instead - “Gary?”

Gary’s sad smile was facing him, and the crowd opened up around them so they had a little more breathing room in the blinking flashing pink lights. John’s fingers interlaced with Gary’s and he pulled him closer. “Gary.”

Gary laughed, sounding exhausted. “Hey. What took you so long?”’

“Bloody ship’s too slow.” John squeezed his hand. “Gary, how do you - feel?”

“So tired,” Gary sighed, rubbing his eye with his free hand. “I didn’t think you were coming.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“You left me before. You left me again and I was dying.”

“That wasn’t - I’m so sorry, Gary, I left - I don’t have a good reason for leaving you like that, but I left because I didn’t want anything like this to happen to you, but it was too l-” John cut himself off when he reached out to touch Gary’s face and he touches too-warm air instead. He blinked and apart from spinning green lights, he doesn’t see Gary in front of him. He scrubbed at his eyes as his heart started to beat faster than it already has been, thudding along with the upbeat music.

He blinked once more and Gary’s there again, but he’s not standing in front of him; instead, he’s unmoving, sprawled out on the dance floor, lit up in blue and strobing lights, and John drops to his knees without a care for anyone else around them. He reached down to ungelled hair but instead his hand doesn’t get tangled in light curls, but instead knocks against a sticky dance floor that smells like dirt, liquor, and sharp white flowers of cheap perfume. Now his fingers were clawing at the floor, digging as though he can reach right through the floor and pull Gary back out of where he’s been taken, and now he’s getting kicked and trampled by the happy club patrons and -

 

_I've had a few little love affairs_

_They didn't last very long and they've been pretty scarce_

_I used to think that was sensible_

_It makes the truth even more incomprehensible_

 

Nora pressed her hands against her ears at the noise. Not just the noise of the disco music, but the demonic energy that seemed to seep into every pore. She heard frantic whispers in her ear, that scratched at her skin, and she felt her stomach start to churn, so she leaned against the nearby wall in an attempt to breathe right.

Linda Martin was just finishing her Sex on the Beach cocktail when she saw a young woman nearly collapsed against the wall, massaging her own temples and whispering something to herself. She got a glass of water from the bartender, and carefully made her way over to her. The woman tried to shove her away.

“Here, drink some water, it’ll help,” Linda said, and finally the woman accepted the water, gulping it down. “What’s wrong, have you been drugged?”

 

 

_'Cause everything is new, and everything is you_

_And all I've learned has overturned, what can I do_

At the sound of cruelly familiar laughter, John managed to stagger back to his feet, and whirls himself around, drowning in the swirling purple lights that change back to red when his dizzy eyes land on a face that’s not human in nature.

"Finders keepers, Johnny boy. Losers weepers," the voice laughed at him.

John’s teeth ground against each other so hard he swore he scraped some enamel off and swung hard at the face, feeling a sense of satisfaction as his fist connected with the jaw of the demon that’s been torturing his dreams for weeks. So he swung again, and again, and again.

_Don't go wasting your emotion_

_Lay all your love on me_

_Don't go sharing your devotion_

_Lay all your love on me_

 

 

 

“Lucifer, we’re talking in circles,” Chloe stated, no amusement in her tone at all. “Do you know where we can find John Constantine for questioning?”

“Haven’t the foggiest, Detective,” Lucifer fired back, folding his arms to match her stance. “Then I'd suggest you’d better start rifling through all of the LA dumpsters you can get your hands on.”

She tilted her head the side, unamused. “Really, now?”

“Yes! I don’t know where he is, I don’t keep tabs on him, he’s a little weasel. Again, he’s nothing to concern yourself with. Honestly, what has gotten into y-”

He was interrupted by the walkie-talkie of one of his security guys going off as they rushed past him, and Chloe shot Lucifer a Look before she ducked her head into the security room. Lucifer followed after her and - “bloody Hell.”

Prominently featured on the monitor was a very familiar man in a trench coat currently attempting to beat the living daylights out of a random patron of his club, and getting struck by other patrons and now, security.

“I can't believe you.”

His attention was suddenly back to Chloe, who was looking at him with a - lost expression. “You were lying to me.”

“I wasn't lying, Chloe! How was I to know he’d be here?”

“With your _history?”_

He was taken aback, a rare feat in and of itself. “Chloe, you don’t know... _anything_ about it.”

She scoffed, turning around and leaving behind him, and he didn’t have a chance to say something to her before she was yelling out _stop right there_ , and then she’s chasing some thief that had the _gall_ to break into _his_ club, and frankly, he’s almost grateful for that thief.

 _Time to sort Constantine out before Chloe got ahead of herself,_ he told himself ~~(why was he doing this, why was he trying to shield all of this from her for no reason, he didn’t lie to her, he doesn’t lie what is happening?~~

 

 

“This is taking too long,” Des declared, throwing open the car door. Ray moved in his seat to face him, to start to protest, Des waved him off. “No, I’m just going to wait out and see if I can see them, I’ll be back in ten minutes. Stay here.”

 

 

Nora and Linda watched as John was escorted - actually, dragged- out of the club and Nora started gasping more and more, like she couldn’t catch her breath and dragged a hand down her face before clasping it over her mouth.

“Are you going to vomit? I can get you a trash c-” Linda started before Nora was up on her feet and was rushing out of the exit, desperately gasping for air outside. It had felt like when Mallus was at his peak, pulling at every nerve ending in her body and making her sick when he made her do awful, awful things. It would feel like she hated everything in the entire world, nothing more so than herself.

She could almost consider herself safe, when a voice called to her from behind: “Miss, excuse me, love, did you see where a man in a dirty trench coat was tossed out like yesterday's trash? Miss?”

She turned around, and her mouth dropped open in horror at the face of a demon, _worse_ than Neron, worse than _Mallus_. The red hue of his face clashed with the beautiful sunset street in orange and pink that filled the sky. The clouds looked like they were spinning above her, drifting in and out of focus.

“Miss, are you alright?”

Suddenly the face was right in front of her and her stomach dropped to her feet, she saw his arm reach toward her and she screamed louder than she thought she could possibly scream, and the sky and everything else around her suddenly went pitch black.

 

“Bollocks,” Lucifer muttered, now holding an unconscious woman in his arms, a mark better than her head cracked on the pavement below her. Except now, he couldn't just lay her on the stre- “Excuse me, sir!” he called out to the man who had turned the corner on the block, rubbing at his temple. He looked up and his eyes widened in surprise at the woman he was holding. “Excuse me, bit of a shot in the dark here, but you wouldn't happen to know this young woman, would you?”

“I - I do, yes, she’s my friend, I was looking for her and my other-”

“Oh, _outstanding_ , here you are then,” Lucifer smiled, giving her to the man to hold, right as Linda stepped out of the club and shot him a confused look. “Ah, Linda, look her over, please, she fainted, not uncommon, but you know, could be something serious. Got to be off now.”

“Lucifer!” Linda called after him as he ran down the street, then threw her hands up in exasperation. “Honestly, I don’t know why I even - please, you can sit her down, I have supplies in my purse. If she won’t wake up after a few minutes we’ll call 911, here, I - wait, are you alright?”

Des blinked slowly, keeping his grip steady on Nora even as his head began to ache like it hasn’t in - two weeks. “I - I think we need to get away from here. Now.”

 

 

John doesn't remember anything after getting a blow to the face to the tune of ABBA until his face lands onto hard asphalt in the back of the club. And he didn’t care if he never got up again.

It wasn’t - it wasn’t real, he tried to tell himself. It hadn’t been real, it was - it was a trap, he was hallucinating, he was spiraling, Des was safe, they were going to save Gary, he - neither of them were damned, it was going to be-

“John.”

John managed to move his head up enough to see Ray’s worried expression. “John, what happened? Where’s Nora?”

The sound of a bloodcurdling scream reached both of their ears, and Ray's mouth dropped open in horror, and John rubbed his eyes, looking to Des for supp-

“Where - where’s Des? ‘Sposed to be with you.”

“He went looking for _you,_ you didn't see him?”

That sent John's gut lurching heavily to the side, so he managed to drag himself back up to his feet and scrubbed at his face. Fuck, fuck, fuck, no, no, n-

“Hands in the air. Now. All of you.”

He peeled his hand away from his face, to see Mick begrudgingly raising his hands, knowing the drill, and Ray’s hands in the air like the Boy Scout he was. A blonde woman was holding them all at gunpoint, holding a police badge out. “LAPD, put your hands in the air.’

“Love, I don’t - I don’t have time for this now.”

“Don’t call me that, backup is already on the way. Now raise your-”

 _ **“CONSTANTINE!”**_ Lucifer yelled out, finally at the scene after running around to the back of his club.

John rolled his eyes all the way around this time, feeling his head keep pounding, keeping up the chant of it wasn’t real, it wasn’t real, it wasn’t r-

“Detective, I really think this is excessive,” Lucifer tried to reason with her. “Now, what have they all done.”

Chloe nodded in Ray’s direction, “Aiding and abetting-” then nodded at Mick “-breaking and entering, theft” and finally John, “disruption of the peace, breaking and entering, and murder.”

Suddenly, it felt like John’s heart fell right out of his chest, and break open on the filthy asphalt. His ears must have closed up at the words, because all he could hear was fucking dance pop music and _help me, please help me, ~~why didn’t you help me?!~~_

“Sir, please raise your arms into the air,” Chloe directed at John, who was staring into an abyss only he could see and his hands pressed against the side of his face as agony etched across his features. “Sir, are you all right?”

“He’s probably coming down from something, excuse me - hell to John Constantine, would a cigarette make you come to your senses?” Lucifer pressed, growing unnerved the more John kept muttering to himself before collapsing onto the ground. “Oh bloody hell, _is_ he coming down from somethi-”

“Wait, did you two just LEAVE Nora there?!” Ray suddenly exclaimed, actual anger coming niot his face.

Mick grunted, “Not like I had a choice, when Trenchcoat decided to fight the entire goddamn dancefloor.”

“But where is she?”

“How the damn hell should I know?! Don’t know where the old demon body double went either."

“Because we can’t just LEAVE HER HERE ALONE,” Ray snapped, clasping a hand over his own mouth in shock at the bitterness coming out of it, before remembering to raise his hands in the air.

Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose. “Detective-”

“Don’t tell me how to run my investigation," Chloe snapped.

“Chloe, I’m not talking to you like your partner, I’m talking to you like a - like a-”

Chloe lowered her gun slightly to look at him, tilting her head to the side and finishing his sentence. “Like a partner,  _partner_ , right?”

Lucifer opened his mouth, and realized he didn’t have a single comeback. Oh no, he knew what was happening to her, to them, to _him_.

Or rather, _who_ was happening.

But instead, he changed the subject, “Chloe, I wasn’t lying to you about this, I swear to you.”

Chloe’s jaw was set as the sound of sirens was heard in the distance, but he could catch her lip quivering. Out of fear or rage, he wasn’t sure. “Chloe Decker, I’ve never lied to you,” he tried to reassure her, stepping closer to her and she took a step back, and there, there he could see confusion in her eyes, as though she didn’t even know what she was doing or feeling.

She swallowed hard, but she couldn’t keep the professionalism up. “Do you know how - horrifying the idea of that is?” she whispered.

Lucifer didn’t get a chance to answer before raindrops started falling on them. Warm raindrops from a clear sunset sky.

If they focused on the music coming from the club behind them, they would have noticed it was loud enough that they could have made out the lyrics:

 

_Clock strikes upon the hour_

_And the sun begins to fade_

_Still enough time to figure out_

_How to chase my blues away_

_I've done alright up to now_

_It's the light of day that shows me how_

_And when the night falls, loneliness calls_

_Oh, I wanna dance with somebody_

_I wanna feel the heat with somebody_

_Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody_

 

 

 

“...with somebody who loves me,” Neron hummed, grinning into his champagne flute as he reclined on his couch, his eyes fire-red as hate and anger flooded his veins. He couldn't be happier.

 

“Detective Douche.”

Dan didn’t get a chance to answer with a _‘hello, Lucifer, how are you, you bastard?’_ before two fat stacks of cash wrapped in rubber bands were dropped on his desk.

“Can I - help you?” he finally offered. Lucifer cut to the chase, a rarity.

“The three men brought in last night, I need them all. Now.”

“Well, I need to process the bail and-”

“Keep the change, I need them out in a half hour. Oh and - I need you not to tell Chloe.”

Dan raised an eyebrow. “Keeping things from her? She’s liable to kill you.”

Lucifer swallowed, smoothing his hair back to keep his hand busy. “I think that’s the idea afoot, believe it or not.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dun dun DUN!
> 
> I hope everyone enjoyed this, it was fun character work to write, and go give Kate some love on her fics, too, after you're done with mine.
> 
> Please, please leave all the comments and kudos you like! I love responding to them!
> 
> Come visit me and find ways to send me love and support (and coffees!!!) on [Tumblr](http://somebodyhelpthenotdeadfreds.tumblr.com)!


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